


Don't Have to Wait For a Miracle

by Anonymous



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Amnesia, Canon Compliant, Established Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-03
Updated: 2017-04-03
Packaged: 2018-10-14 08:11:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,033
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10532427
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: After an accident leaves Liam without any memory of the past three years, it's up to Harry to put the pieces back to together.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [swallowsmateforlife](https://archiveofourown.org/users/swallowsmateforlife/gifts).



> I'm a sucker for amnesia fic, so I couldn't resist when i got this prompt. Hope you like it!  
> it's canon compliant except I did a bit of handwaving re: harry & liam's current/past relationships & babies
> 
> title from Got My Own Thing by Liz Phair

“Do it. Do it. Do it.” Harry chanted from his side of the screen.  
  
“Stop. I’m not having Skype sex with you. I’m at my parents’ house.” Liam hissed back.  
  
“Please?” Harry put on his best pout and batted his eyelashes.  
  
“I will disconnect, don’t test me.”  
  
“You will not. But fine, I guess i can go another day without seeing you naked.”  
  
“Can we talk about something else, you sex… monster.”  
  
“Sex monster, that’s a new one. I’ll have to start using that.”  
  
He pretended to write it down, getting a laugh out of Liam, which to be honest, was pretty much his reasoning for doing anything.

“Don’t you dare start describing yourself as that.”  
  
“Anyway, did you mum like the present? And you did wish her happy birthday from me, right?”  
  
“She loved it, she told me to say thank you for her. How much did that necklace even cost?”  
  
“It’s not like i can’t afford it.”  
  
“You don’t need to spend that much. You’re her favorite, you could make her a necklace out of candy wrappers and she’d love it.”  
  
“I’m trying to make sure my future mother-in-law likes me.”  
  
Liam was sure Harry always called her his mother-in-law, just because Liam always blushed whenever he brought up marriage.  
  
“What’s got you looking off in space like an idiot?”  
  
“You can’t talk about things like that and not expect me to think about being married to you.”  
  
“You’re such a sap.”  
  
“Uh huh, sure, like you aren’t exactly the same. I’m pretty sure your middle name is ‘sappy’”  
  
“It’ll happen some day. When our lives get a bit less crazy.”  
  
“We both know that’s never gonna happen. But anyway, back to you spending way too much on my mum’s birthday present. She’d still love you if you never bought her anything ever again.”  
  
“That’s true, mums love me.”  
  
“And dads and babies and every animal you’ve ever met.”  
  
“I think you’re just jealous that I got a better gift for her than you did.”  
  
“I’m not even going to dignify that with a resp-”  
  
“Liam, are you ready- oh sorry, didn’t realise you were talking to someone.” His mum walked in the room and immediately walked back out.  
  
“No,” He waved his hand at the computer screen. “It’s just Harry, it’s fine.”  
  
“Excuse you, ‘just Harry’? I am more important than that!” Harry squawked. “Hi, Karen, looking wonderful as usual.”  
  
She immediately blushed, “Oh, Harry, stop it. Thank you for the necklace though.”  
  
“You’re welcome, definitely brings out your eyes.”  
  
Liam rolled his eyes, Harry had nothing to worry about, his parents (along with most people) thought Harry was the best person ever.  
  
“What did you want mum?”  
  
“Oh, just that we’re almost ready to go to dinner, are you ready yet?”  
  
“Yeah, just have to say goodbye to this menace.”  
  
“Okay, okay, go have fun with your parents. I’ll talk to you later.”  
  
“Love you.”  
  
“Love you too.”

\---

Not even fifteen minutes later, when Harry was going through the pros and cons of ordering takeaway or cooking for one, his phone rang and he smiled to himself when he saw it was Liam.  
  
“Can’t bear to go this long without hearing my voice?”  
  
“Harry?”  
  
His heart dropped when the voice on the phone was definitely not Liam.  
  
“Geoff, um, hi. What’s going on?”  
  
“Sorry, this was the easiest to call from. There was an accident.”

\---

He vaguely remembered making calls and the drive, but he also felt like one moment he was at home, and the next he was rushing into a hospital, trying to find out if Liam was okay.  
  
“Are you sure you can’t tell me anything about him?”  
  
“I’m sorry, but if you aren’t family I’m not allowed to give you any information.”  
  
“I’m his boyfriend, that’s not enough?” As much as Harry hated hearing about famous people who pulled the ‘don’t you know who i am?’ card, he was on the verge of doing it himself, when Liam’s parents came around the corner.  
  
“Oh thank god, any news about Liam?” He got out in a rush, but at least Geoff seemed to understand what he said.  
  
“He’s in surgery, but it’s not too serious, the doctor said he had a broken arm and they’re just getting everything the way it should be. They did a bunch of tests but we won’t really know until he wakes up.”  
  
“Okay, okay. We can be a little bit hopeful. What about you two? Are you okay?”  
  
Karen held up her hand with a bandage on it, “Just a little banged up, but we’ll be fine.”  
  
“Do the other boys know?”  
  
“I got through to Niall, Louis didn’t answer. Niall said he’s on his way and he’ll try to ring Louis if he gets a chance.”  
  
“Good. Guess there’s nothing else to do but wait now.”

\---

Waiting was a lot easier said than done. He’d made about a hundred trips to the bathroom and just randomly roamed the halls, trying to come up with something to distract himself because he was on the verge of freaking out, not knowing if Liam was actually going to be okay. He managed it just until Louis and Niall came in at almost the same time.  
  
“I don’t know why everyone says i’m always late. I got here before Niall.”  
  
“Yeah, by a minute, and I had come from farther away, you dick.”  
  
“I’m gonna pretend you didn’t just insult me and-oof.”  
  
Harry cut him off by hugging them both.  
  
“Oh thank God, I love you guys.”  
  
“I thought he was okay? You seem a bit worked up for that situation.”  
  
“A doctor saying he’s okay is a lot different from seeing it for yourself. I’m gonna be nervous until I can see him.”  
  
“This is Liam we’re talking about,” Louis said, trying to extract himself from Harry’s grip. “Like he’d be anything but fine.”  
  
“Are you here for Liam Payne?”  
  
“Yes. Is he okay?”  
  
“He should be.. I’m sorry, didn’t introduce myself, I’m Doctor Ashford.” He took a second to shake everyone’s hand. “I’ll be looking after Liam while he’s here. So, he’s out of surgery, his foot will be in a cast for a several weeks, but other than that, physically he should be fine. No scans showed any internal injuries or bleeding, but he did hit his head and we won’t know for sure how much, if at all, that affected him. Just a waiting game until he wakes up. He’s out of recovery and in a regular room if you’d like to see him. I’d recommended just maybe two or three of you right now just so he doesn’t get overwhelmed when he wakes up.”  
  
“Do you three want to go first?” Geoff offered to Harry, Niall and Louis.  
  
“No, you’re his parents, you go and Harry. Me and Louis can wait a little longer.” Niall stared over at Louis, as a ‘don’t even fight me’ gesture.  
  
“Why are we arguing now?”  
  
“We aren’t, yet. I’m just not exactly in the best mood since it’s 3:30 in the morning…”  
  
Harry was half listening to them argue as he rushed to follow the doctor and see Liam and actually have proof that he was still alive and breathing.

\---

All the anxiety and stress seemed to leave Harry all at once, when he saw Liam and he started to fall asleep almost immediately when he sat on the chair next to the bed.  
  
He woke up to someone brushing their fingers over his arm, like they were inspecting all his tattoos. It took a few blinks before realizing it was Liam doing it.  
  
“Liam, you’re awake!”  
  
He just stared at Harry for a few seconds.  
  
“Where did these tattoos come from? And what happened to your hair?”  
  
“Sorry that my first thought on finding out you were in an accident wasn’t ‘better comb my hair.’”  
  
“No, i mean, it’s short now. When did you cut it? And wait- accident?” He asked, looking around as though he was just noticing he was in a hospital room.  
  
“I’ve had my hair cut for a while now.”  
  
“Okay, yeah good prank. A day is not ‘a while now’”  
  
Harry was trying to figure out what that meant, when a nurse came bustling in.  
  
"Ah, I see you're awake now. I'm just gonna ask you a few easy questions, to see where your head's at. Got quite banged up there."  
  
He was able to rattle off the answers of his name and basic information.  
  
"Alright, do you know what today’s date is?”  
  
Liam scrunched up his eyebrows trying to think, and in any other situation Harry would think it was cute. Right now he was just hoping he’d hear something that wasn’t devastating.  
  
"I honestly have no idea."  
  
"That's alright dear, do you know what year it is at least?”  
  
“2015? We’re getting ready to do the American half of our tour.”  
  
“Holy shit.” Harry said under his breath, but apparently not as quiet as he thought, because everyone’s head snapped towards him.  
  
“Sorry. Just, you know, freaking out a bit.”  
  
“I’m going to find let his doctor know that he’s up. Anyone need anything before I leave?”  
  
“No, we’re fine, thanks.”

\---

No one really knew how to react to finding out Liam had lost nearly three years of memories, so there was an awkward silence until his doctor came in. “So, Liam, I’m hearing that you think it’s 2015?”  
  
“I’m guessing that’s wrong?”  
  
“Don’t worry, we’ll start working on getting you back to normal, but it’s 2018.”  
  
Liam paled and looked like he was about to pass out. “This is a horrible April Fool's joke, right?”  
  
“Sorry, it’s not. You got quite a hit to the head in your car accident. But don’t get too worked up, I’m going to have to run a few tests, but this is quite likely just temporary. Your brain just got jostled around and it could be something as simple as little bruise that will go away in a few days.”  
  
“And if not?”  
  
“We’ll just have to wait and see, unfortunately that’s all we can do in cases like this. It’s a good sign that you regained consciousness right away. We'll figure out what's going on and set up a treatment plan.”  
  
“Thank you doctor.”  
  
“You’re welcome. Feel free to ask me or any of the nurses looking after him, if you have any questions.”  
  
Harry wasn’t even sure how to react, he wanted to yell about everything being so unfair, or collapse out of relief that, memory issues aside, Liam was going to be okay. He also kind of wanted to throw up. What he ended up doing was stumbling his way out of the hospital room and making his way back to the waiting room.

\---

Louis and Niall both leapt out of their seats when Harry came back.  
  
“How is he?”  
  
“He’ll be fine. Except he doesn’t know we’re dating.”  
  
“Shit.”  
  
“Exactly. He thinks it’s like spring 2015. So it’s like I don’t have a boyfriend anymore.”  
  
“Are you gonna tell him?”  
  
“Yeah, just thought right now wasn’t the best time to drop it on him. So this is pretty far up there in worst days of my life.”  
  
"I can imagine-"  
  
"Oh, can you? Because until you have a boyfriend in a hospital bed with no memory of your relationship, you actually have no idea. So maybe you should fuck off."  
  
Niall got up at that point and physically put himself between the two of them. He was not about to break up a fist fight. "Harry, Jesus, calm down."  
  
To his credit, Louis just blinked at him. "Wow. Tell me how you really feel"  
  
“Shit, sorry, but this is not really the best night for me. I kind of just want to curl up in a ball and cry and I need my mum to tell me it's okay.”  
  
“We can call her.”  
  
“Niall, it's 3 am. Anne will kill him. She can be scary when she wants to.”  
  
“You say that like I don’t know her. I just thought it would be the nice thing to do.”  
  
“Um, hello, she’s my mum. I think I can handle it. I’ll wait until morning, it’ll be fine, Liam will be fine. Everything will be fine.”  
  
“Sounds like you’re trying to convince yourself of that, mate.”  
  
“Oh my god, will you guys stop? Are you four years old?”  
  
“You two, of all people, should know I turn into a raging jerk when I’m exhausted.” Louis got out between yawns. “I think I might just head to the hotel and get some sleep now that I know he’s relatively fine. Not worth seeing him if I’m just gonna fall asleep on the floor.”  
  
After a minor freak out that morning when Harry, without thinking, attempted to kiss Liam, and an awkward conversation about ‘yes, Liam, you’re out to the entire world’, and ‘yes, we are dating’, Liam seemed to calm down a bit and was seemingly coming around to the idea that he and Harry shared a flat in London. He still wasn’t totally on board that they were planning on going back there once he was released from the hospital.

\---

Harry bombarded the doctor with dozens of questions as he was finishing his final assessment and preparing to give Liam the okay to be released.  
  
“My recommendation is to go back home, and try to keep a similar routine to how it was before the accident. Don't give him a lot of information about what he's missing, all at once. No need to overwhelm him. If he asks, tell him and maybe that just being around familiar things will jog his memory. Memory loss and brain injuries are still not fully understood by even the best doctors.”  
  
“So, you don't even know if he'll get anything back?!”  
  
“Harry, please, calm down.”  
  
“Sorry Li, I just want you to be okay.”  
  
“I will be. Especially with you as my boyfriend. Still not convinced this isn’t a prank though.”

\---

It was odd and amusing but mostly sad that Harry was giving Liam a tour of a place that was full of Liam’s own things.  
  
“Next stop, the studio. I mean, it's just a bedroom we put some recording stuff in. But you know.”  
  
“You mean, I don't know.”  
  
Harry just glared at him. “ _Liam _.”__  
  
“I’m joking, come on, did you become mister serious in the past three years?”  
  
“Maybe I did.” He sniffed.  
  
Liam completely ignored his answer and fixated on a picture on the wall.  
  
“Whose baby is that?”  
  
“What?”  
  
Harry turns to see Liam pointing to a picture of himself with Freddie.  
  
“That’s um.. That’s Freddie, he's Louis’ son.”  
  
“Louis has a _kid_?”  
  
“Yeah, he’s almost two.”  
  
“Holy shit.”  
  
Liam sounded so defeated and just sad that Harry didn't know what to do aside from hug him.  
  
“I really want to kiss you, but I know you're just trying to handle being out, let alone having a boyfriend, so I'm resisting.”  
  
“I appreciate it. But god, Louis is a dad. It sucks to know I'm missing so much.”  
  
“You'll get it back and laugh at the time you forgot Freddie exists. It'll be one of those dumb stories his obnoxious uncles always tell him.”  
  
“I assume there's a lot?”  
  
“It's mainly Louis talking about embarrassing things we've done. Somehow he remembers every single time I've fallen on stage.”  
  
“He remembers everything if he can use it against us. I hope the first big thing I remember is something dumb about him.” Liam mumbled into Harry's shoulder.  
  
“Excuse you, I will break up with you if the first memory isn't about me.”

\---

Getting up in the morning was probably going to take a lot of getting used to, for both of them. For Harry, it was weird to wake up alone, knowing Liam was there, but in another room and not actually with him.  
  
For Liam, it was not knowing how their morning routine worked, and feeling weird to be so awkward around Harry. He was one of Liam's best friends, but finding out they were dating threw all of his comfort from being around Harry, out the window.  
  
He was finally thinking about getting out of bed when Harry poked his head in the doorway.  
  
“I um, I made breakfast, if you're hungry.”  
  
“Yeah, I'll be there in a minute.”  
  
“Okay, that's good. Uh...remember anything yet?”  
  
“Nothing. Except that you asking that every morning is getting old.”  
  
“Sorry.”  
  
“It’s fine.”  
  
“I’ll just go and just like, get everything plated up.”  
  
That was one of the things that was starting to get on Liam’s nerves, how Harry seemed to both want to be around him at all times, but not be that close all at the same time. How was Liam supposed to remember their relationship when this was not at all what Harry would be like normally. (Or at least he hoped this wasn’t how their relationship was.)

\---

After a few weeks of tiptoeing around each other, Liam finally reached his breaking point.  
  
“I want to say something and I need you to listen to me all the way before you get mad.”  
  
“I’m already not liking the direction this is going.”  
  
“I don’t think I can stay here anymore.”  
  
“What do you mean? It’s your place too.” Harry could feel himself start to panic, this was it, Liam was going to leave him.  
  
“It doesn’t feel like it. I don’t remember anything about it. And it doesn’t help to have you hovering around like any second i’m gonna blink and everything will come back.”  
  
“I just wanna be hopeful.”  
  
“Well, that’s just it. What if I never remember? The doctor said that was a possibility.”  
  
“I know that, Liam.” He did know, he was just choosing to not think about it.  
  
“It doesn’t seem like you do. I just- I need to not be here for a while.”  
  
“How are you supposed to remember anything if you aren’t around all our memories?”  
  
He just scoffed and waved his hand towards the pictures all over the wall, “Yeah, because that’s worked amazingly so far.”  
  
“Where are you going?”  
  
“Probably to my parents’. Mum said I could stay if I ever needed to.”  
  
“Okay. Well, if that's what you want.”  
  
“Not really, but I think it's my only option at this point.”  
  
“Fine.” Harry stormed off to the bedroom, fully knowing he was acting like a child, but this was his worst nightmare coming true and he could probably be excused from being immature for a bit.

\---

With Liam out of the flat, it was too much to Harry to bear, so he did the only thing he could think of, visit his parents too. Anne, thankfully did not ask him any questions right away, just gave him hugs and tea. He knew it was coming though, and it came in the middle of their usual game of Scrabble.  
  
“Sweetheart, what’s going on? Not that I don’t love you being here, but I know something’s going on. I assume it’s about Liam?”  
  
“He said he couldn’t be there with me hovering around him all the time, whatever that means. I was giving him space.”  
  
“You don’t realise it sometimes, but you do hover. It can be nice, but you’ve done it since you were small and worried that Gemma was going to _die_ because she had the flu and stayed home from school.”  
  
“I was what, four? I think that’s understandable. Now, can we get back to my problem of Liam leaving me, probably forever?”  
  
“He might not know it, but that boy loves you, I can’t imagine he’s actually leaving you. Sometimes people need space. And you need to decide what you want.”  
  
“To be with Liam, obviously.”  
  
“But do you mean Liam before the accident or Liam now? Because if you aren't willing to move on with him not remembering you up to now, I think the best thing for everyone is to end your relationship.”  
  
“But I love him, we were supposed to have the fairytale ending and adopt a football team worth of kids and live happily ever after.”  
  
“You still can, if you give up on the idea of right now being perfect. It's not going to be and you're setting yourself up for failure.”  
  
He just pouted at that. “How are you always the voice of reason?”  
  
“Because I'm your mother and I know more than you.”  
  
“I just- I miss him so much, even though he's right there.”  
  
“Only you know what you want out of your life. But you better let Liam know soon.”  
  
“I will. Once I figure out how I’m gonna do it. I know I could just go and say ‘hey I love you and I don’t care if you can’t remember our relationship up to now’ and he’d be okay with that. But he deserves more of an explanation.”  
  
“Don’t overthink it. It doesn’t need to be more complicated than it is. Just tell him how you feel and why, and it’ll work out the way it’s supposed to.”  
  
“That better mean us together forever.”  
  
“I don’t doubt it. Have a little faith in things, love.”

\---

It took Harry a few days to actually work up the courage to make the move to go see Liam again. He’d almost talked himself into running back to the car and just driving away and never dealing with this, when his body seemed to just take over and hit the doorbell before his brain could decide. He had a one in three chance that Liam would open the door, which he realised was actually a smaller chance than that, since Liam was still using crutches. He was half expecting to get yelled at when it ended up being Karen who answered the door. Instead she cried and hugged him, which was also something he expected.  
  
“You’re here to fix things with Liam, aren’t you?”  
  
“If he’ll let me.”  
  
“I think he will. He’s been sitting around being sad for a week.”  
  
He couldn’t hold back the small laugh that escaped at that. “Well, that doesn’t make me feel bad at all.”  
  
“Oh, don’t. I think he’s mainly upset that he thinks he made _you_ sad.”  
  
“We’re kind of a mess that way, I think.”  
  
She just hugged him again and let him in the house.  
  
“Liam, you have a visitor.”  
  
“Do I have to get up?” He sighed and reached for his crutches.  
  
“You don’t need to do that.” His head snapped around when he heard Harry’s voice.  
  
“Oh, um. Hi.”  
  
“Hi.”  
  
“I’ll leave you alone for a bit. Would you like some tea Harry?”  
  
“That would be lovely, thank you.”  
  
As soon as she was out of the room, Harry figured now was as good a time as any.  
  
“I think we need to try and fix this. I had this idea that you'd magically remember everything and we'd go back to normal but I'm beginning to realise, thanks to my mum, that I'm gonna miss out on the now if I'm too focused on the past. I want you, memories or not, if we have to start our relationship over, that's fine. I love you and just want you to give me a chance to prove it to you and hopefully one day adopt those hundred kids we wanted.”  
  
“I think I’ve been willing to give you the chance since I left our flat.”  
  
“Oh thank God. Can I kiss you, please? I’ve been dying to for three months now.”  
  
“I guess.” Liam tried, and completely failed, to put on an exasperated voice. He barely had the words out before Harry grabbed his face, and more or less attacked him with kisses.  
  
“That was exactly what I’d hoped.”  
  
“Glad it was good for one of us. So. A hundred kids?”  
  
“Yep. You definitely said ‘i want one hundred kids.’ not some reasonable amount like three or four.”  
  
“I don’t think that’s true.”  
  
“I promise, cross my heart and pinkie swear and all that stuff.”  
  
Liam just rolled his eyes. “You’re lucky you’re cute.”

**Author's Note:**

> cheesy ending, but they've never been my strong suit. I always have to end with ridiculousness.


End file.
